This article from The New Yorker spells out Gov. Mitt Romney’s blind spot regarding the role of the federal government in people’s lives.
He said during one of the many Republican primary presidential debates that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s duties ought to be farmed out to the states. FEMA, he implied, is a superfluous agency and that the federal government needs to eliminate it to help reduce the deficit.
It’s right there in the link. Open it and take a look.
Then think about the mountains of praise being heaped on FEMA at this moment over its response to the Hurricane Sandy tragedy that has swept across the northeast corner of the nation. Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey – a major and vocal supporter of Gov. Romney – has been heaping much of that praise on President Obama precisely because of the federal government’s response to this national tragedy. I will repeat: Hurricane Sandy has produced a national tragedy.
And national tragedies require a federal response.